AD&LE AND CO. Here a knock fell upon the door. Ad&le twitched a shawl from a chair, slipped it about her shoulders and cried " Come in." The door opened to admit my brother-in-law. His appearance was remarkable. He was wearing the smart black hat which my wife had left in his room and a dressing-gown which only Paris would have dared to create. Its bright canary field was covered with wine-red dogs, each of which was pursuing a royal-blue cat. In the background, apple- green rats were laughing heartily. "When," said Berry, "do we quit this venerable town ? I don't want to seem exacting, but if I'm to subscribe to its customs, I must be born again. The difficulties, however, with which that operation would be fraught are too manifest to be insisted upon : and so I propose to withdraw. IVe a great admiration for industry, but a community that beds down at two and is in full blast again at a quarter past five makes demands upon my sense of decency which I am not prepared to honour. Watts puts the whole thing in an eggshell. How doth the little busy bee Delight to bark and bite : Its little hands were never made To twinkle all the night. I learned that fragment face downward on my nurse's knee." "Don't exaggerate," bubbled Adfele. "Half past five." " Pardon me," said Berry. " Precisely at a quarter past five some person or persons unknown caused a 82